


Backyard Hero

by someoneplsloverobbierotten



Series: LazyTown Christmas fics 2017 [2]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: (im sorry), Angst, Christmas Time, Crying, Fluff, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash, Rescues, Sportacus saves Robbie, Sportacus to the rescue, here have a death-defying experience this christmas folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 18:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13059354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/someoneplsloverobbierotten/pseuds/someoneplsloverobbierotten
Summary: In an effort to be more festive, Robbie decides to decorate his lair.However, Christmas lights can be perilous.





	Backyard Hero

**Author's Note:**

> lol this was gonna be a cute drabble and it turned into... this... angsty feels-fest. here folks, have some pain this christmas.
> 
> (just to let y'all know, my cat started licking my laptop screen while i wrote this so this fic has officially been blessed with Hattie Kissies. let the kitty kisses heal the pain this fic causes)

It was a cold December morning when Sportacus's crystal went off.

Of course, he immediately stopped his exercises to run over to the windows below the ships, but he couldn’t help but feel confused over his crystals alert. Accidents were unpredictable and happened all the time, that was something Sportacus knew well, but he really hadn't expected anything to happen today - the kids had declared that day a 'snow day'; the snow outside was too thick and the air far too cold to do any proper playing so they had all decided to just stay indoors instead. Sportacus had been expecting a peaceful day; no trouble, no rescues, time that he could spend exercising in his ship and maybe read a couple of books.

No such luck.

Within a few moments he'd looked over the entire town, but couldn’t see anyone in any visible danger - in fact, no one seemed to be outside at all. Everyone must be in their homes, just like he'd thought they would be. They were very unlikely to be in trouble in the safety of their own homes… well, most of them were. Robbie Rotten, however, was just as capable of getting into accidents staying in his lair than he was when causing mischief out in the town.

Sportacus didn’t waste any time. It had to be Robbie, he was certain of it, and within seconds he had the door open and was calling for his Skychaser. It was the fastest way to Robbie's home, and since Sportacus didn’t know what kind of trouble Robbie had gotten into, he needed to be as fast as possible.

His crystal beeped with increasing frequency the closer he got to the billboard on the town's outskirts and the sound worried Sportacus. He could barely hear it over the wind rushing past him as he sped through the air, but he could feel the buzz of it through his casing. By the time he got to the hatch above Robbie's lair, his heartbeat was racing along with the crystal's warning.

He jumped off the Skychaser as soon as he was close enough and threw the hatch open. This was definitely not the time to wait around for an invite inside.

Even though the slide down only took a few seconds, it felt like eons for Sportacus, and those few seconds were more than enough for his mind to conjure up images of what he might find when the slide ended.

When he finally made it down, Robbie wasn’t there. The lair was empty. Sportacus looked around wildly, but the only things he spotted were an open box of Christmas lights and a ladder on the ground next to it.

A ladder, that had one leg that was twisted an warped.

Sportacus looked up and the breath left his lungs. The villain was hanging from the ceiling, a line of Christmas lights wrapped around his arm and torso the only thing keeping him from falling.

_"Robbie!"_

"Oh thank the _gods,"_ Robbie gasped, far too scared to even think about playing his normal 'I don’t want your help Sportadingus I'm perfectly fine go away' routine. "It's _about_ _time_ you showed up!" Robbie shouted, squeezing his eyes shut as he clung to the lights, "get me down from here!"

"I came as fast as I could Robbie," Sportacus assured him as calmly as he could - which wasn’t very calmly at all. "I'm so sorry." He frantically tried to think of a way to get Robbie down without the ladder. The villain was far too high up for him to jump, and there was nothing nearby that was tall enough for him to climb up to reach him. Sportacus cursed the lair's stupidly high ceilings. Thankfully the length of lights Robbie was attached to meant that he wasn’t right up in the rafters, instead maybe only twenty foot off of the ground instead of sixty, but if Robbie had been in a normally sized home, with appropriately high ceilings then this _wouldn’t have happened._

Sportacus shook his head. There was no point thinking about things like that; there was no time and it wouldn’t make the situation any better.

"Hurry _up!"_ Robbie yelled, swinging dangerously as he brought his legs up closer to his chest. He just wanted to get down, down where it was safe and still and he wanted to be as close as possible to the one thing keeping him safe.

"I'm coming Robbie," Sportacus told him desperately, "try not to move."

"That’s not very helpful, _Sportacus!"_ Robbie wailed from above.

Sportacus never thought that that the first time Robbie actually called him by his proper name instead of some insulting nickname would be like this. Never. Not with that amount of sheer _fear_ in his voice, not with a hitch at the end that indicated he was probably about to cry. It made him never want to hear his name come from Robbie's mouth again, leaving a sour, heavy feeling in his stomach, but it pushed him into action.

There was only one thing he could do at this point, and though he was loathe to do it, it was genuinely his only option at this point; he just couldn’t think of a way to get Robbie down. Turning around, he grabbed the back of Robbie's orange armchair and dragged it over to where the inventor dangled. He spared half a second to make sure that it was directly under Robbie and then climbed onto the seat, leaning his left leg against the back of it to help secure his balance, and reached his arms out.

It wasn't very safe, but it was much better than Robbie falling onto nothing at all.

"Robbie!" the hero called up, "I'll catch you, you have to let go!"

"Are you kidding _me!?"_ Robbie shrieked. "Not a _chance_ sportaloon - find another way, _now!"_

Sportacus swore that the line of lights holding Robbie up stretched a little thinner and his crystal quickened alarmingly in response. "There's no _time,"_ he told Robbie, "I'll catch you, I promise - you'll just have to trust me!"

_"Trust-"_

One of the wire's strands snapped, a few sparks fizzing into the air and Robbie abruptly dropped a couple of inches.

_"ALRIGHT!"_ Robbie screamed, clutching onto the lights. "Alright- I- I'll let go!"

"Okay, Robbie! On my count then, I've got you - three, two-"

Another strand snapped and Robbie yelped, letting go of the wires on instinct so he could use his hands to protect his face from the flying sparks. Sportacus's breath caught in his throat, bracing himself as Robbie fell through the air in a tangle of limbs and lights. He hit Sportacus's arms and the Elf's knees buckled under the sudden force, the two of them tumbling back off of the chair and onto the hard ground.

Sportacus took the brunt of it, which he'd expected. He fell onto his back with Robbie on top of him, the villain's fall cushioned by Sportacus's body. It _hurt,_ but Sportacus didn’t care. He was far too glad that Robbie was okay to care about the air that had been pushed from his lungs when Robbie's full weight landed on him, or the elbow that had gotten him in the gut.

Neither of them moved for a while, the shock preventing them from doing anything other than just lying there, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Sportacus stayed perfectly still under Robbie, even though he was being slightly crushed. It was worth it - the warm weight pressing down on him was a physical, solid reminder that Robbie was there and _safe,_ and Sportacus kept his arms tight around the villain.

Eventually though the need to breathe became too much and he had to loosen his hold, the movement seemingly jolting Robbie out of his daze. He rolled onto the floor beside Sportacus, flopping over onto his back, and the Elf immediately sucked in a grateful breath.

For a few moments the two lay side by side on the floor of the lair, the only sound their harsh, slightly ragged breathing until Sportacus had enough air back in him to speak.

"Are- are you alright R- Robbie?" he rasped. He turned his head a fraction to see the villain give a weak, dismissive flap of his hand.

"I'm fine," Robbie panted, "what- what's the point of having a hero wandering around your backyard if you don't make use of him sometime?"

Despite the situation, Sportacus burst out laughing - though it came out as more of a croaky splutter. "That- that's me!" he wheezed, struggling to breathe enough to laugh _and_ speak, "Sp- Sportacus, number 10; backyard hero!"

He dissolved into breathless giggles and Robbie soon found himself joining in, sniggering along with Sportacus, and the two of them laughed on the floor for a while, ignoring the cold from the concrete beneath them spreading through their backs.

Eventually though, they quietened. The laughter ran out and the coldness underneath them couldn't be ignored any longer. Sportacus was the first to move, sitting up and wincing, and Robbie watched as the hero rolled his shoulder and rubbed at his arms and back, expressions of pain on his face.

He'd never seen Sportacus hurt before. Granted, it didn't seem to be very serious, but Robbie had never seen Sportacus so much as grimace before - there had never even been a scrape or a bruise on the Elf's tanned skin, not that he'd _seen_ anyway.

Up until now, Sportacus had almost seemed… invincible. It was discomforting to see otherwise. 

"Are-" Robbie cleared his throat, "are you uh… alright?" he asked.

Sportacus shook his arms a little. "I'm okay Robbie. My arms and back are a bit sore… I will have to put a heat pad or two on them tonight but it's nothing bad," he half-shrugged carefully. "I suspect they will ache tomorrow though." He turned to look at Robbie, still laid out on the ground beside him. "What about you, Robbie - are _you_ okay?"

Frowning, Robbie pulled himself up. "I- I'm fine, I think," he said, checking himself over. "My wrists and hands hurt, but I think that's from just holding onto the lights," he told the hero, rubbing lightly at his wrists.

Sportacus let out a noise and reached out, palms up. Robbie almost hesitated but thought better of it, and placed his hands in Sportacus's for the Elf to inspect.

There were red lines criss-crossing his palms and around his wrists from where the lights had dug into the skin, and Sportacus let out a hiss.

"Don't make that noise," Robbie protested, "it's not that bad - it didn't even draw blood." It was true; the marks were deep and red and angry-looking, but it could've been worse. A _lot_ worse.

Sportacus frowned but gave Robbie his hands back - though the inventor could tell he didn't want to.

"Still," the Elf said warily, "we should put some cream on that."

Robbie sighed again. There was no use fighting Sportacus on this, he'd just keep insisting until Robbie let him do what he wanted - and as much as Robbie hated being fussed over, his hands _did_ hurt quite a lot. "Fine," he grunted, "come on."

The villain hauled himself up off the floor, feeling the muscles in his back and thighs protest, and watched as Sportacus started to do the same. The Elf looked odd to Robbie, but he couldn't put his finger on why. It wasn't until he saw the hat laying next to his armchair that it hit him - Sportacus's hair was uncovered. His hat had come off during the fall.

Blinking in surprise, Robbie bent down to pick it up. He hadn't expected Sportacus to be blond; the little wisps of hair at the nape of his neck or near his side-burns were brown. It… suited him, Robbie thought. As did the curls, which were also unexpected. And the length, which was also- the whole thing was just unexpected.

But Robbie liked it. It looked soft, and he could see the pointed tips of Sportacus's ears pointing through. Those weren't a surprise, he'd known about Sportacus's true origins from day one - 'slightly-above-average' hero Robbie's _butt_ \- but they were still startling for Robbie to actually _see._ He wondered if anyone else in LazyTown had seen them, or if he was the only one…

He passed the hero's hat back.

Sportacus's eyes widened when he saw it and his hand immediately went to his head, feeling nothing but hair. He blushed, pink spreading across his cheeks, but when he took the hat from Robbie he didn’t put it back on again. Robbie was glad about that, not only because he would've really hated to see them covered up again after only _just_ now seeing them for the first time, but also because the very tips of his ears had turned pink too, which was… well, cute.

Not that _Sportacus_ was cute or anything, of _course_ not, but even Robbie had to admit that that one little thing was kind of completely adorable.

He bit back a smile as Sportacus ran his hand through his hair, clearly nervous from having it on show like this, but the moment was ruined when the Elf hissed suddenly, yanking his hand away.

Robbie was there in a second, batting the hero's protesting hands away and parting the hair with his fingers, searching. Sportacus hissed again and Robbie shushed him, but it let him know that he'd found what he was looking for. There was no blood - no skin had been split, but there was a small bump that Robbie was certain would grow and bruise badly if he left it.

"You need ice."

"Robbie, I'm fine," Sportacus told him, trying to move his head away from Robbie's hands.

"You need _ice,"_ Robbie repeated, grasping the Elf by the wrist and dragging him over to the little kitchen area in the corner of his lair.

"I'm _fine_ Robbie," Sportacus protested, "I must've just bumped my head when I fell - I didn’t even notice it until I-"

"Shut up," Robbie told him, tugging open the freezer and pulling an ice-tray out. After whacking it on the counter a couple of times to loosen the ice, he tipped a few cubes into a tea-towel and handed the bundle out with a stern look on his face.

"Thank you," Sportacus said quietly, staring at the ground. He took the ice and carefully pressed it to the sore spot on the back of his head. Even being as gentle as he was though he couldn’t supress a wince when the cold touched the bump.

"Don't mention it," Robbie grumbled, looking anywhere but Sportacus. Eventually his gaze landed on the fallen ladder and Sportacus noticed a sad look come over him.

He had to ask.

"Robbie… why were you using such an old ladder? Don't you know that it's dangerous?"

"I know, I know," Robbie groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, "but I was using it _because_ it was old."

"I- I don't understand," Sportacus said, shifting slightly closer in confusion.

"I've had that ladder for years and it- well, it hadn't let me down yet," Robbie winced, glancing at the remains of the ladder.

"Ah," the Elf said, "sort of an… 'Old Faithful?'"

Robbie nodded. "Yes." 

"I understand that," Sportacus told him. "I still don’t think you should have put your safety below that but… I understand."

They fell silent for a moment, and Robbie couldn’t help but look up at the broken lights in the rafters. "I guess I'll have to just leave them up there," he sighed. "I'm not going up there to get them down, not without a scissor lift at the very _least._ They can just stay."

Good. Sportacus didn’t want Robbie going all the way up there again anyway. Certainly not without proper, safe equipment. "For- for what it's worth…" Sportacus offered, "where you got up to looks nice."

Robbie chuckled and nudged Sportacus with his hip. "Thanks. Last year was so… _pleasant,_ I- I wanted to be more… festive. So I thought I'd decorate a bit this time, you know, while the brats were quiet."

Sportacus smiled softly and looked around the lair. The fruits of Robbie's labours were evident; tinsel wrapped around the railings of the indoor balcony as well as around his standing lamp, there was even a wreath - Sportacus suspected it had been hung above the chute that connected the lair and the hatch up-top, but Sportacus's hurried entrance meant that it had been knocked down onto the ground.

It was simple, but beautiful. Robbie had clearly put some effort into it.

"I think it looks festive, Robbie," Sportacus said, laying the hand that wasn't holding the ice against his head on top of the inventors. "It looks very lovely."

Robbie stiffened, and for a moment Sportacus thought that he'd made a mistake. But after a second Robbie leaned a fraction closer, even though he didn’t necessarily relax. It was enough for Sportacus.

"Thank you," Robbie said quietly.

"You're welcome," Sportacus smiled at him, but Robbie shook his head.

"No," the villain said, "not for that, not- not _just_ for that anyway, I mean… _thank you."_

Sportacus blinked. He wasn’t expecting thanks. He… he never thought Robbie would give it - certainly not this openly. "O- oh," was all he could say, feeling his face start to heat.

The villain couldn’t look at him. For someone so tall, it Sportacus that he could appear so small. It made Sportacus's heart break, and he just couldn’t help himself. He dumped the ice on the counter and pulled the gangly villain into a hug.

Robbie froze immediately, and Sportacus could feel his heartbeat quicken where he lay his head on the man's chest. "What-" Robbie spluttered, shifting in Sportacus's arms, "what are you-"

Sportacus just shook his head and clung to Robbie harder, refusing to let him go. "I- I'm just so glad you're _okay,"_ he said into Robbie's shirt and the inventor broke, melting into Sportacus's embrace. Sportacus felt Robbie's arms wrapping around his back, the fingers of one hand starting to tangle in his hair.

"M- m- me too," the villain whispered, hiding his face in the Elf's neck. "Thank you Sportacus. Thank you so much."

_' **That's** how it should sound,'_ Sportacus thought, warmth flaring in his chest. He felt a slight dampness just above the collar of his shirt and he pressed his cheek against Robbie's head.

"S- sorry," Robbie sobbed, "I'm sorry," and Sportacus hushed him, rubbing a soothing hand up and down his back. It was alright. If Robbie was crying then he'd be far too preoccupied to notice the Elf blinking away tears of his own.

Eventually, Robbie stopped crying, but neither of them let go; perfectly content to stay holding each other. After a while, when they'd been standing up for so long that they'd inadvertently started swaying slightly, Sportacus spoke.

"…Hey Robbie?"

"Yes?" Robbie asked, slightly muffled by Sportacus's shoulder.

"I'm getting you a new ladder for Christmas."

Robbie burst into giggles, and Sportacus felt the warm rush of them long after they'd stopped.


End file.
